Patients with cardiac ailments are sometimes treated with a percutaneous mechanical circulatory support device, also commonly referred to as a heart pump, configured to assist the natural cardiac pump function or to replace natural cardiac pump function by a continuous pumping operation. These heart pump assemblies can be introduced surgically or percutaneously during a cardiac procedure through the vascular system, such as through blood vessels. In one common approach, pump assemblies are inserted via a catheterization procedure through the femoral artery using an introducer sheath.
The introducer sheath can provide a reliable access point for the introduction of heart pump assemblies as well as a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic interventional catheter-based devices. The introducer sheath can be inserted into an artery or vein, and the pump can be advanced through the introducer sheath into the patient. The introducer sheath can then be separated into two halves along a break wall and peeled away while the pump, catheter, and/or guidewire is left in place. This allows physicians to perform clinical procedures that require separation/removal of the introducer sheath without disturbing the position of a pump, catheter, guidewire, and/or other device that has been introduced into and should remain positioned inside of the body.
As percutaneous heart pumps have become larger and more sophisticated, the introducer sheaths for introduction of the pumps into the body have also necessarily become larger. The larger introducer sheath and hub assembly require a greater breaking force to split the hub of the introducer sheath (e.g., because the thickness of the break wall is greater). The increased break force can make fracturing the hub difficult and less reliable. Furthermore, the increased break force can lead to abrupt breaks of the hub which may undesirably jostle, dislodge, or damage the pump, and/or may in some cases cause discomfort or injury to the healthcare physician administering treatment.